Lakers News: West Exec Weighs In On League-Wide Value Of Mo Bamba
Your Los Angeles Lakers possess a $10.3 million team option on new reserve center Mo Bamba, a former No. 6 lottery pick LA poached from the Orlando Magic for the low price of Patrick Beverley's expiring contract and a Denver Nuggets second-round pick from LA.
The Lakers acquired three picks from Denver for former reserve center Thomas Bryant, and thus flipped that selection to the Magic. It all got folded together into a four-team trade that also included the Los Angeles Clippers.
Per Sean Deveney of Heavy.com, a rival Western Conference front office executive loves the Bamba pickup for Los Angeles. Beyond being on what the executive feels is an under-market contract, Bamba continues to have “still a lot of trade value on him,” per the exec.
Across his two games with the Lakers thus far, Bamba is averaging seven points (on pretty underwhelming shooting splits of .333/.222/.500, but it's a tiny sample size), 9.5 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and an assist.
What really has mattered most to LA has been Bamba's paint presence. His ability to alter shots around the rim and clean the glass is critical for LA, as Bamba is essentially Bryant's replacement in the rotation. The seven-footer, still just 24, is already a more complete two-way contributor for the Lakers, given that he provides basically everything Bryant did on offense (shooting from deep and finishing around the rim), while also being a really solid defender, which just isn't Bryant's skillset.
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